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La Conner’s Town Council used the development of the 2022 budget to consider law enforcement options at its 5 p.m. budget hearing Tuesday. This often brought up topic at council meetings this year, has the group’s attention, with the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office $331,000 contract up for renewal. Councilmember John Leaver has long questioned the value provided and some residents have shared that concern throughout the year. When Mayor Ramon Hayes called the meeting Thursday, the 10 page packet Town Administrator Scott Thomas provided had t...
The Town of La Conner did not violate Washington’s constitution in its purchase and sale of the Hedlin family’s Maple Avenue property last April. The lawyer for Maple Field, the Landed Gentry development company responded with a three page letter Sept. 15 to the Bricklin and Newman law firm representing the Reclaim Hedlin Field group organized by resident Linda Clark. Bricklin lawyer Bryan Telegin sent a Sept. 1 letter to Landed Gentry calling the sale “likely illegal.” There will not be a “compromise of Maple Field agreeing to not develop t...
The future is being built for residents of greater La Conner with the start of construction of a “zero to 100” new La Conner-Swinomish Regional Library designed to meet the needs of newborns’ mothers and their great grandmothers, says its project manager. The demolition Sept. 22 of the Friends of the Library Thrift shop marked the start of significant changes coming to the southwest corner of Morris and Sixth streets in La Conner. After over a year’s delay due to the coronavirus pandemi...
Here we go again. Whatever the merits of Greg Ellis’ proposal to build six or so houses on the Washington Street lot behind Pioneer Market, he provides the opportunity for town and Skagit Valley residents to again wrestle with the complexity of gaining affordable housing in La Conner and throughout the county. At his permit hearing Sept. 21, Ellis shared his pitch to offer “affordable housing, in the high 500s.” That is pricing affordable only to folks downsizing from Seattle or San Francisco. Ellis is offering the wish, like Dorothy clicking h...
I fully support President Biden’s decision to end the 20 year war in Afghanistan and the presence of American troops in the impoverished war-torn country. Here is why: while the withdrawal was always going to “messy” and fraught with violence as in most evacuations, from Dunkirk to Vietnam, it was like finally pulling off the bandage. It needed to be done. It was crazy, for sure. There were 15,000 allied lives lost in trying to evacuate those soldiers off that beach in France in 1940. Yet Churchill is considered a hero for his decision. So it n...
These are very challenging times for so many reasons. Many of us have lost loved ones, some of us have lost our jobs or had them shut down, hopefully for the time being. This are especially trying times for people like me who are very social and love to be out and about. Ironically, as much as I love directing television, my shpilkes makes it very difficult for me to hunker down at home. “Shpilkes” is Yiddish for a playful gas and a fun way to describe being ADHD. Fortunately, I chose this tim...
I guess we should have expected it, but it’s disappointing none the less. Since “affordable housing” is a critical issue for all our communities, it is now being used as a cudgel or enticement for what would otherwise be an unacceptable development options. For Skagit county, the implementation of the Growth Management Act was particularly painful. We were delinquent in implementing the law and were at risk of sanctions from Olympia by the time we actually adopted our Comprehensive Plan. There was also significant tension between the count...
October is coming, with election ballots mailed Oct. 13. In greater La Conner, three town council seats and the Fire District 13 commissioner position 2 are contested. Do you have enough information to make your choices? What are the important issues facing the town? Do you want to ask the candidates questions and hear them explain their positions? You can ask questions and watch candidates for council respond in a pre-recorded online forum organized by the League of Women Voters of Skagit County and the La Conner Weekly News. They have...
Greg Ellis is going back to the drawing board. The La Conner Planning Commission has asked him to do so. The five-member advisory panel, in a unanimous vote last Tuesday, Sept. 21, required the veteran home designer and builder to return Oct. 19 with more detailed plans of the housing development he intends siting off Whatcom and Washington streets behind Pioneer Market. Ellis, owner of Holistic Development & Consulting, appeared before the commission via Zoom during a one-hour historic design r...
The Port of Skagit was awarded a $1,000,000 loan and a $1,000,000 grant through the Community Economic Revitalization Board to continue its work to bring fiber optic infrastructure to eastern Skagit County. This low-interest Rural Broadband Program loan along with the grant from the Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund, will support the East County Fiber-to-the-Premise construction project of aerial fiber in Concrete, Lyman, Hamilton and Marblemount. “CERB has been a supportive partner for the Port in bringing economic development opportunities t...
The La Conner High School volleyball team is not used to losing. Not even a single set. But it lost last week’s slate of matches due to COVID-19 protocols. Winners of the 2018 and 2019 State 2B net crowns and among the favorites to capture this year’s Yakima tourney, the team is poised to make up for lost time. Head coach Suzanne Marble’s undefeated squad is scheduled for six matches and an invitational tournament over a 12-day stretch starting with Monday’s Sept. 27 NW2B clash at Concrete. With coaches not allowed to comment publicly on COVI...
During La Conner High School’s NW2B football game at Coupeville Friday night a disoriented deer sauntered onto the field. But Bambi had nothing to fear. It was a young and injury-riddled Braves team that was in Coupeville’s crosshairs instead. The host Wolves (1-2), paced by four long touchdowns by Scott Hilborn, extended La Conner’s scoreless streak to three games with a convincing 51-0 league triumph. Hillborn scored on a 48-yard option pitch in the first period, returned a punt 51 yards in the second quarter for a TD and reached paydi...
The chemistry is there, but a young La Conner High girls’ soccer team still came up on the short end of the equation in a key NW2B match with Friday Harbor Sept. 22. The hosts fell 7-1 to the Lady Wolverines, averting a shutout thanks to a goal by senior captain Delaney Cobbs, her second of the campaign thus far. Cobbs and Baylee Smith had found the net when La Conner was edged 4-2 in its Sept. 16 season opener at Coupeville. But La Conner had trouble keeping the score close in its home debut opposite Friday Harbor (1-1 in league, 1-3 o...
Curators’ statement: Bruised, but never beaten. Lonely, but not alone. “Standing, Still” represents strength and unity in times of struggle. This exhibition strives to capture both the societal standstill caused by the pandemic and the resiliency of communities, who have emerged still standing after their experiences. Eleven artists explore the topic of COVID-19 through first-person narratives and creative expression. Selected quotes from each artist accompany their work on the wall, creat...
It isn’t just a new library being built at the old Pederson Automotive site on Morris Street. An understanding that the local area is one community – a single, multi-cultural community – is being built there as well, La Conner Library Foundation Director Susan Macek said last week. The much-anticipated start of construction of the La Conner-Swinomish Regional Library underscores the value of working together on a project that will serve and benefit the many diverse groups within the library district here, Macek said. And s...
If science requires solving complex problems one step at a time, a La Conner alumnus is among those setting the pace when it comes to the vital on-going study of viruses, stem cells and gene therapy. Nick Llewellyn, a 1998 high school graduate, is a member of the research team at the acclaimed Paula Cannon Lab at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he has been engaged in critical studies involving both HIV and COVID-19. “My work over the past year,” Llewellyn told the...
OLYMPIA – The latest COVID-19 modeling and surveillance situation report from the Washington State Department of Health shows the majority of counties now have case rates above 500 per 100,000. Washington is likely to see continued high levels of cases and hospital admissions, with increasing deaths. Report findings include: COVID-19 prevalence is at a new high. About 39% of the population remains susceptible to COVID-19 infection. Transmission continues to increase, but at a slower rate. COVID-19 deaths are increasing. The seven-day...
Three greater La Conner family farms will participate in the Skagit Festival of Family Farms this weekend: Roozengaarde, Schuh Farms and Gordon Skagit Farms. Longtime participant Hedlin Family Farms is not on the roster. Started 20-plus years ago by the Washington State University’s Skagit County Extension program, the event took a break last year, a result of the coronavirus pandemic. “Last fall there was no vaccine, so we as a group decided it would be better not to encourage people to com...
It is the first, and in historic terms, the most lasting image motorists entering town from the east and north have of La Conner. Pioneer Monument, the iconic granite shaft with pictorial reliefs of early Skagit Valley scenes around its base, has stood in the present roundabout area for 85 years, an enduring symbol made possible by a tireless fundraising campaign conducted here during the Great Depression. Installed in 1936 to honor the area’s early pioneers, the 12-foot monument was formally d...
Monday, September 20 3:59 p.m.: Call customer service – Caller reported that her phone had been showing a caller ID from Hungary when calling other people and thought it was suspicious. The caller recently got new equipment from Wave Cable. Caller was told to call Wave customer service for questions. S. 2nd St., La Conner. 7:52 p.m.: Pole struck – One car, minor injury accident. Caller ran off the roadway and struck a power pole. Bay View Edison Rd. SR 20, Greater La Conner. Wednesday, September 22 7:09 a.m.: Landlord tenant...
A super easy meal that I make now and then for breakfast. I never thought to share this recipe until a co-worker of my husband said she wished she knew how to make this. It’s all about technique. A can of hash and fresh eggs – sounds easy, right? Plus, once you add the eggs, you put on a lid and turn the burner off. Gives you two minute to check your email or bring in the morning paper. Ingredients Hormel Corned Beef Hash, 14 ounce can Eggs, 1 to 2 per person Cooking oil, 1 tablespoon Drie...
